the o’sullivan way : if it IS broke, don’t fix it
Here it is, folks…the best Eddie O’Sullivan has to offer for us in the Six Nations opener on Saturday, compared with the best he had to offer against Argentina in our last match.
Four different players; all of whom have already pulled on the green shirt, and all of whom are only there because the players they replace are unavailable.
In case you’ve forgotten, we not only lost to Argentina, we were never in it. Oh, and there were similar displays in the three other matches as well.
But apparently that was all a “blip”.
My opinion? Blip my arse. You’re only as good as your last outing, and any player on any team in any sport needs to know that if they don't produce the goods, there's someone that can replace them.
Surely kicking off against the tournament’s weakest side is the perfect opportunity to award new caps?
Even if they went on to be benched for the trip to Paris the following week, imagine the boost to the confidence in both Bernard Jackman and Jamie Heaslip if they could have savoured the build up to pulling on a starting jersey in Croke Park on Saturday.
The way Eddie has done it, barring an absolute catastrophe against the Azzuri, they will most likely sit it out for the duration of the tournament, only getting starting recognition over the summer on the whipping boy tour Down Under.
Then there’s scrum half. I seem to remember Munster playing Wasps off the park only a week ago, with Stringer clearly handling the conditions better than his opposite number.
You can bet your bottom euro that were it not for injuries, suspensions and retirements, there would be the exact same XV lining out at the weekend.
So given that Eddie has stuck to his guns and insisted his World Cup team is good enough for this Six Nations, what kind of result should we expect for him to be vindicated?
Personally, if he had at least tried to blood a few youngsters, I would have said three wins at home would have been fine. Surely we could forgive honourable defeats in both Paris and Twickenham in that case.
But with this selection, I can’t see how anything short of winning the Championship itself will be enough for this team to cast off the demons of last autumn.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ll still be donning my replica jersey and heading to Sinnott’s for all the usual atmosphere this Saturday afternoon!!! I’d like nothing better than to see a smiling Eddie O’Sullivan basking in his post-match interview as he tells us all he told us so.
I still can't help wondering what kind of language I’ll be using on my blog Sunday when the hangover dies down…
Four different players; all of whom have already pulled on the green shirt, and all of whom are only there because the players they replace are unavailable.
In case you’ve forgotten, we not only lost to Argentina, we were never in it. Oh, and there were similar displays in the three other matches as well.
But apparently that was all a “blip”.
My opinion? Blip my arse. You’re only as good as your last outing, and any player on any team in any sport needs to know that if they don't produce the goods, there's someone that can replace them.
Surely kicking off against the tournament’s weakest side is the perfect opportunity to award new caps?
Even if they went on to be benched for the trip to Paris the following week, imagine the boost to the confidence in both Bernard Jackman and Jamie Heaslip if they could have savoured the build up to pulling on a starting jersey in Croke Park on Saturday.
The way Eddie has done it, barring an absolute catastrophe against the Azzuri, they will most likely sit it out for the duration of the tournament, only getting starting recognition over the summer on the whipping boy tour Down Under.
Then there’s scrum half. I seem to remember Munster playing Wasps off the park only a week ago, with Stringer clearly handling the conditions better than his opposite number.
You can bet your bottom euro that were it not for injuries, suspensions and retirements, there would be the exact same XV lining out at the weekend.
So given that Eddie has stuck to his guns and insisted his World Cup team is good enough for this Six Nations, what kind of result should we expect for him to be vindicated?
Personally, if he had at least tried to blood a few youngsters, I would have said three wins at home would have been fine. Surely we could forgive honourable defeats in both Paris and Twickenham in that case.
But with this selection, I can’t see how anything short of winning the Championship itself will be enough for this team to cast off the demons of last autumn.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ll still be donning my replica jersey and heading to Sinnott’s for all the usual atmosphere this Saturday afternoon!!! I’d like nothing better than to see a smiling Eddie O’Sullivan basking in his post-match interview as he tells us all he told us so.
I still can't help wondering what kind of language I’ll be using on my blog Sunday when the hangover dies down…
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